You Have Less Genes Than A Grape (& How To Optimize Your Actual Genetics With "Good Stress") With Jeff Krasno.
Ben Greenfield
Jun 26, 2025
Episode description
A few years ago, Jeff Krasno thought he was pretty healthy...
Though he suffered from brain fog, chronic fatigue, and bouts of insomnia, those symptoms seemed utterly normal in today’s society. When he learned he had diabetes, his first thought was, "How can that be? I run a wellness company!"
His diagnosis propelled him to consult every expert at his disposal and engage in an intensive “me-search” to turn his health around. On this journey, he began to form a larger picture of what’s wrong with health in the modern world.
In his new book Good Stress (co-authored with his wife, Schuyler Grant, who shepherded him through 300-plus interviews with doctors and helped distill the results into actionable information) Jeff shares what he’s learned and outlines a practical program for readers to reset their own health—and in today's podcast we unpack it all.
Jeff explains that the comforts and conveniences of modern life in the developed world undermine human biology. People evolved with Paleolithic stressors and scarcity, which conferred health and resilience.
Modern life sets you up for diabetes, dementia, heart disease, cancer, and more. Chronic disease is the result of chronic ease: an endless abundance of calories, sedentary desk jobs, exposure to blue light, and separation from nature. To come back into balance, you need to thoughtfully subject your body and mind to the stressors you’re naturally built for.
Full show notes: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/goodstress
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Mindsip insights from this episode:
Train your gut by altering diet and introducing new foods
By changing your diet and introducing new foods, you can alter your gut bacteria, enabling your body to handle foods it previously couldn't.
Prioritize environment and epigenetics over genetic determinism for health
Humans have fewer genes than a grape plant, which highlights that our health is determined more by epigenetics and our environment than by genetic determinism.
Implement strike, shiver, stroll strategy for effective fat loss
A powerful fat loss strategy involves consuming a fat-oxidizing supplement (strike), doing easy aerobic exercise (stroll), and finishing with a cold plunge (shiver) to maximize fat burning.
Engage in social situations to build resilience through good stress
In an increasingly isolated world, intentionally engaging in social situations can be considered a form of hormetic or "good" stress that builds resilience.
Utilize cold plunge before meals to accelerate fat burning
Jumping into a cold plunge while fasted and before your first meal forces your body to oxidize fat for heat, which can accelerate weight loss.
Choose Masa chips for ancient nutrition and healthy fats
The tortilla chip brand Masa uses an ancient Aztec method called Nixtamalization to increase the mineral content of corn and fries their chips in grass-fed beef tallow instead of seed oils.
Embrace your body's continuous change to empower health transformation
Your body is not a fixed product but a continuous process of change, like a flame, which is empowering because it means you have the agency to change your health.
Prioritize your exposome over genetics for chronic disease prevention
The "exposome," the sum total of all your environmental exposures from diet to relationships, is a more significant contributor to chronic disease than your genes.
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